Birth of Jesus celebrated in 'wrong Bethlehem'

Each year, Christians flock from all over the world to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, but archaeologists believe they are in the wrong place.

A woman lights candles in the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank city of BethlehemPhoto: AP

12:22AM GMT 24 Dec 2012

Instead, Jesus was more likely to have been born in Bethlehem of the Galilee, a hillside village in northern Israel, The Times reports.

Aviram Oshri, an Israeli archaeologist, told the paper that the genuine site of the Nativity had been mistaken by thousands.

"Bethlehem in the Galilee was inhabited by Jews at the time of Jesus, whereas the other Bethlehem? There is no evidence that it was a living site, an inhabited area in the first century."

Mr Oshri has found some evidence that Jewish purification rituals took place in Bethlehem of the Galilee around the time Jesus was born. The village is also less than five miles from Nazareth, Jesus's childhood home.

However, any archaeological proof that Jesus was born in the town has probably been destroyed by modern building work, he said.